Ocular Migraine Symptoms

According to the International Headache Society's definition of this condition -- which it calls retinal migraine -- symptoms include:

Vision problems that affect one eye. These problems include:

flashing lights
blind spots in your field of vision
blindness in the eye

Vision loss can be a complication seen with retinal migraines.

Headache that lasts from four to 72 hours. The headache tends to:
affect one side of your head
feel moderately or very painful
pulsate in intensity
feel worse when you're physically active

Other symptoms include:
nausea
vomiting
unusual sensitivity to light or sound

An important symptom is that the vision loss only affects one eye. Many people have trouble identifying the difference between flashing lights or blindness in oneside of their vision -- but involving both eyes -- and these symptoms in only one eye.

A regular migraine with an aura, which can involve flashing lights and blind spots in the vision, is a more common problem. This type affects about 20% of people who have migraines. But in these cases, these symptoms usually appear in one side of your field of vision and in both eyes.

Covering one eye and then the other can help you tell if your problem is affecting one eye or both.